Patrick Treacy

Canadian, b. 1950

#72 (Volume 1), 2002–2004

ink, pen, gouache, leather dye on paper

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Although executed in a sketchbook, this drawing by Winnipeg artist Patrick Treacy is a completely finished work. This evocative and powerful piece presents the darker side of what is considered, for many, the innocent years of childhood. Informed by the artist’s distress over the representation of children in mainstream media, this complex piece attempts to expose the myth of happy endings. Upon viewing, this drawing slowly turns from appearing to be mildly innocent to macabre and disturbing. Here we are presented with a full-length portrait of a faceless doll with its chest partially exposed, and a long piece of ribbon looped through holes on either side, draping to the floor.